Pokemon Ultra Moon Groundium Z: Grand Trial of Poni Island

Now then, the first thing we do happens immediately after Mina's Trial, but I felt it fit better in here.

Hapu and, strangely, Hala show up to introduce us to USUM's Grand Trial. Just an introduction, though.

Surprise! Exeggutor Island is now a Trial site! Nanu doesn't have a proper Trial site, just dumping his Grand Trial on us before we sail off to Aether Paradise, but Hala and Olivia challenged us in Iki Town's ceremonial challenge site and the Ruins of Life, respectively. Hapu getting delayed allows her to choose her site freely.

Hapu shares some words with Hala, and then wanders off to Exeggutor Island. We have to travel there manually, but first we need to talk to Hala.

Oh hey, that's neat! Hau's textually gone back to Hala and got his Melemele Grand Trial certification. Honestly, doing his Mina Trial might give him the chance to finish up any Trials he's missed along the way. I'm not sure which ones, but he's the one that needs to know.

Well, that's nice to know, but I'm not sure what you came to me specifically for? I guess you just wanted to gush about your grandson? There are worse things to do, I suppose.

Is this seriously worth remembering in any respect? They're Pinsir, they won't take much doing to knock down. Anyway, the team.

Robin's going to take point. It's the best chance we have of dealing with one of Hapu's Pokemon without using a Ground-specific weakness, and we take as many of those as we can with this team.

Crysantha remains my Grass coverage. Shiva has the option of using Energy Ball, but in this situation, that feels like passing the buck.

Shiva herself is still using the Amulet Coin. Her job will be dealing with Flygon- it's still here in USUM, and Shiva hopes she can pull off the job.

Ridley, of course, is an amazing choice for dealing with Mudsdale. It's always nice when you have a Pokemon that's strong in opposite Atk and Def stats- since most Pokemon specialise in the same pairing, these can shift the balance.

Chip, of course, is landing a precise Aqua Jet wherever he is needed. Hopefully he won't be needed, but he'll be excellent if he is.

This time, Zossie really is just here for EXP. If she ever gets used seriously, she's not likely to get far.

We do have to take the elder's boat to Exeggutor Island- there will never be a Glide point there.

When you arrive, you get a nice camera panning shot to where Hapu is standing- nice and ceremonially. Perhaps the Ula'ula kahuna would be expected to appear in the Lake.

Yes, we still need the Exeggutor lift to get up to her. Not that involved, but it's one of those mild irritants.

I don't know what separates Fini from the others, but it definitely knew what it was doing when it picked you.

An Exeggutor waddles into frame when the fight starts up. They're really trying to portray the Exeggutor as important to this fight. I'd buy it more if Hapu used Exeggutor.

The pre-battle speech is identical to SM, with the same mention of this being her first Grand Trial. Clearly, Hau hasn't gotten that far ahead on cleanup. Not that I'd imagine Hapu would want her Grand Trial against anyone but us.

Hapu's team is actually surprisingly similar between SM and USUM- don't fix what isn't broken, I suppose. The main thing they did was set her IVs to flat 30, what looks like a change to Gastrodon's EVs, gave Mudsdale a new move, and replaced her lead entirely.

Rather than Dugtrio, Hapu now leads with Golurk. I suspect this is for reasons relevant to another change later on, but it probably wasn't that big a factor. Golurk carries 252 EVs in HP/Atk, a Serious Nature, and the moves Hammer Arm, Earthquake, Shadow Punch and Stealth Rock. Weirdly, it carries the No Guard Hidden Ability rather than Iron Fist, as you might expect- only Hammer Arm has less-than-100% accuracy, so this is mostly detrimental for now. In general, Hapu is eschewing Sand strategies for Stealth Rock, and also making her lead a bit harder to chew through.

Literally.

You need something fast and powerful to avoid these. Well, 79 isn't exactly fast, but with all that HP to plough through, you're probably looking for a Z-Move here. It has mixed defences, so whatever you can get out will do.

Clearly, I needed more than Scrafty. I wonder if Shiva could've done it- not that I'd risk it when she's so important for Flygon.

A nice, well-placed Chople Berry. If you get brought to yellow health after eating one of these, odds are you would've lost without it.

Hm... tempting.

Yeah, not worth it. Mudsdale's still 252 Atk/Def itself, with Groundium Z and the moves Earthquake, Heavy Slam, Double Kick and Payback. Payback is replacing Counter, eschewing a move that returns the Physical damage it takes with a Dark type coverage move scaling off its own power that does more damage if it gets hit at all. This is a much better choice, and it also has the side effect of countering the shenanigans Dottie put him through back in SM.

It's less helpful when you just oneshot.

Right, Flygon. Flygon is still inexplicably a Special attacker, with 252 EVs in Sp. Atk/Spd and the moves Dragon Breath and Earth Power. We've seen by now what a Physical Flygon can do, particularly to Ailey, but Shiva is a bit more capable of handling a Special one.

With Stealth Rock, though...

First of all, Flygon has 160 Speed. Poor Shiva had no chance of outspeeding with her 139. Maybe if she was a little higher level.

(I'd need to be level 54 with her current Speed investment, and 52 if I had her all the way up at 252 EVs in Speed. Even with Timid, Flygon is an ambitious Speed threshold for her.

Fortunately, she had the spare HP to tank the hit.

Also fortunately, I landed the hit. I will be happy to see Ice Beam in my kit, though.

Gastrodon keeps its kit of Muddy Water, Mud Bomb and Recover, but seems to have switched from 252 Sp. Atk EVs to Def EVs. She has the HP EVs either way, so the difference comes down to whether she wants to be a bulky attacker or just a gigantic wall for physical attackers. Which, to be fair, compose most of the original Grass attackers around Alola.

I'm carrying Special. Crysantha isn't the greatest Grass attacker, but she's perfectly serviceable.

Particularly when all that's being fired back are Special attacks.

Hm. Well, it won't be much use.

All it winds up doing is giving me more HP to refuel up to full for.

That was the only level Zossie got. She's not that far behind level-wise- it's just moves and BST in her way now, really.

Isn't it so much easier when we're packing usable coverage for the specialty type?

The Exeggutor are really coming around to watch. You'll want to wait for Ray, guys.

Ailey now has her Groundium Z. She's probably the one who can use it least well, but at this point, I think that goes without saying.

At the very least, Ailey managed her Island Trial. After the Ribombee, I was starting to worry, but a clean Hapu fight is very encouraging.

After Hapu performs the demonstration dance, the Exeggutor start cheering wildly.

...When did all of you get here? There were three of you last I checked!

Even Ailey seems a bit off guard on that.

Anyway, with Hapu cleared and all of our official business wrapped up, the time comes to point us in the direction of our final boss fight.

SM would see an event that points them in this direction directly after beating Lusamine in Ultra Space. That will be shown next time.

I knew this came up from time to time. The Island Challenge's final battle has, traditionally, been one final rush of the four Kahunas- so, for us, we would expect to see Hala, Olivia, Nanu and Hapu teaming up with level-appropriate teams.

Gym Leaders- and by extension Island Trial Captains- have been textually confirmed to use level-appropriate teams for your progress. The "sorting algorithm of evil" (for a given degree of "evil") is an officially sanctioned design element of a Pokemon character's progression through the story. Now granted, the fact that the villain teams follow it is more questionable, but they do try and keep us from fighting the head honcho until our level is high enough for a good, overwhelming first battle.

As earlier referenced in the story, they've been retooling this whole "final Trial" bit, and we'll be the test subject for a brand new conclusion.

As for what, exactly, it is? I'd like to keep it to the next update, and fortunately, Hapu's in no rush to tell us.

In fact, all she does is tell us to go to Tapu Village, since Mount Lanakila is now open directly next to it. The SM message would fast travel us there, but either way, I have no intention of starting Mount Lanakila in this update.

There's a few scenes scattered around Alola that I'll need to show off and pick up. There's not that much good stuff around here materially, but there is something worth mentioning that is actually relevant to Ribombee.

Our first order of business is, I believe, the only thing on this list that is actually locked to after beating Kahuna Hapu- her restaurant appearance.

Somewhat notably, this restaurant is the only one who doesn't actually tell us "not many young girls like it" before we make our order. On the other hand, they also call the Tapu "tubby", which strikes me as weird for Poni.

Funny you say that right after we battle one another! Hapu's day job is the most physically demanding of the three kahunas we can dine with (and probably more demanding than Hala's), and when she goes to restaurants, her goal is simple:

The gas tank is empty, she needs it refilled, stat.

By which she means, she wants our helping.

Hapu is genuinely a VIP of the restaurant for reasons other than her being Kahuna (which one might've been able to notice on account of her only just having become Kahuna), so they know her order and cam throw it out immediately.

This is the only real look we get upstairs, too, since we can't go up unless we're eating, and we don't have player control while we're eating.

Farmwork can get you plenty of food, but also you don't exactly have what one could call "enough time to cook" in between tending the fields. Once you put down the tools, you typically want to start eating, not start cooking.

...Wait, did you have leftovers, or did you have more room in your stomach after you finished? It sounds like the latter, but that's a bit of a turn of phrase for it.

I bear no responsibility for how much of her meals Bethany and Ailey leave left over. Consider it leftovers.

So yeah, Hapu's produce is actually the restaurant's supply. It also probably helps the Seafolk while they're actually at sea, so an occasional free meal to keep her in top form is the least they can do.

The Poni Village Heart Scale selection is the smallest of the bunch, though. We're just about at the point where we can use these, though, so these are welcome. Still, though, it's probably best you stick to getting them from Nanu when you need them.

Indeed. There's plenty to pick up around here.

I bumped into this one on my way out of Mina's Trial- I didn't remember this Socialite even being here last time I checked, and it seems she has more to say now. I imagine this is based on visiting Exeggutor Island the first time, and meeting the Chief there.

If you say no, she won't blab about it, but she will let you come back and ask.

And, apparently, now, but that's mostly for our benefit, I'm assuming. And also probably Hapu's.

...You know, this port town doesn't seem to be around any more. What happened to it?

Honestly, this kinda sounds like it's based off a myth, but I couldn't track down the original, if it existed.

Looking up "white house tree myth" got me a lot of results for, of all things, George Washington and his cherry tree. A white house under a giant tree where two lovers could live happily reminds me more of Agate Village from Pokemon Colosseum than anything in particular, although I'm sure there's several cultures that would be happy with such a myth.

...The fact this tree is growing "out of" the ocean is kind of a non-promising sign for the port town. Also probably means Poni Island has changed shape in living memory.

It was a pretty nice story, all told. I'm just worried about the part of the story that you didn't mention.

...The port town and the lovely house hasn't been swamped with water since it was built, has it...?

Our next order of business is on Mahalo Trail, and was unlocked, of all times, after the Ilima rematch in Mina's Trial. There's no mention of its appearance thus far in the story, but a character will point us in this direction once we get to Mount Lanakila- so you'd think it'd unlock after it was pointed out to us, wouldn't you?

Yep. We can totally go and catch Nebby now, too.

Lillie hanging out on Mahalo Trail is a bit of an odd choice as a gameplay element, but this is where we first met her- for that symbolic value- and we will have to drop by this direction in order to visit the Ruins of Conflict later- yes, we will have to do so eventually. It should be noted that Lillie's appearance coincides with the bridge repair, so there is no possibility of going to the Ruins of Conflict without finding her.

The whole "this is the place we saved Nebby" symbolism being referenced. I also kinda feel like they could've done with a bit more in-game time between Ultra Necrozma and now.

Similar to SM, Lillie looks at Nebby and, while she appreciates the time they had, she wants Nebby to have more.

And she thinks that we can help her with that. Sadly, Bethany's Nebby is the only one seeing use.

They changed the reasoning, however- rather than wanting to give Nebby the adventures he craves, they throw Nebby to Necrozma.

Robbing someone of their personal liberty because someone else is likely to go on a destructive rampage if they are not allowed personal control over them? Are we talking about Nebby or yourself here, Lillie?

This line also kinda suggests the idea that maybe we should have gotten access to Nebby after having found Necrozma. I don't have any idea where it is, Lillie, I'm not sure why you think Nebby will be in its hands with me.

I appreciate the gift, Lillie, but I think you and I need to have a serious discussion at some point.

The Nebby battle is more or less the same as it was in SM, with three key differences- now, it's on the Mahalo Bridge battle environment added to USUM for that first Spearow battle, Nebby has been elevated to level 60, and Lunala has had Shadow Ball dropped from its moveset.

Happily, Nebby decided to show off its replacement move, Moonblast. Both Shadow Ball and Moonblast are in its level up kit in both games, this just means Ailey's Lunala doesn't start with redundant coverage.

Solgaleo's moveset is identical.

They changed a few Pokedex arts around, and Lunala is one of them. Weird in general, but we're getting a nice notch on our belt for Pokedex entries.

Of all the things to keep from SM, they kept her weird "Ailey will be your mother now" speech. You'd think, if this game was the result of SM getting an editing pass, this would be one of the first lines on the cutting room floor.

Especially if she's giving us Nebby for the purpose of keeping Necrozma happy. That's not what good parents do with their children. That's what your mother does with her children, but as we've established, she does not exactly meet the definition of "good mother", does she?

No pressure or anything? I wouldn't be surprised if Lillie was conceding Nebby because she couldn't handle the pressure herself. Which, I mean, I can't blame her, but still.

I always do like to think of the Trainer having Nebby as a temporary thing until Lillie gets it back after she has her own development to reach that point. They don't really want to depict that in-game, though, mainly because it would involve giving up a Legendary to an NPC and Pokemon's not super fond of that.

It's worth mentioning you can return a gift Pokemon twice in HGSS, but one time is with a Spearow and the other a Shuckle. Shuckle is rare, but not once-per-file like Nebby is.

USUM has also added another element for Nebby. This is more for gameplay, not really something to take note of, but important to have handy.

Solgaleo and Lunala now have signature Z-Crystals to add to the collection! These Z-Moves are, of course, upgrades to Sunsteel Strike and Moongeist Beam, turning them into Searing Sunraze Smash and Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom. These Z-Moves have 200 BP, 20 higher than a Corkscrew Crash/Never-Ending Nightmare from their original moves, and retain the Ability-ignoring properties of their base moves. Handy, but I don't think Bethany's Nebby will be hurting too badly for not having it.

Well, I suppose we had to do this somehow, but all it really does is show off how much of a tear in the plot switching off SM's climax was.

Ray's Solgaleo encounter went more or less identically. It's not like which form Nebby took mattered that much for USUM, particularly since we spent very little time with it specifically.

At any rate, with the bridge reconstructed, we can go prodding around the other side.

Our freebie Electric Seed, for whenever we're lucky enough to find an Electric Terrain setter. Zapple would love this were the only way to acquire more of them not to grind a 5% find on Togedemarus.

Ailey's visiting the Ruins of Conflict for the Charizard Glide point. There is no Machamp Shove puzzle in here, but Tapu Koko's home seems no more interested in responding to visitors than the other three.

A bit of a theme I looked into was talking to the kahunas, since I knew Nanu had an event. It seems the other three cannot say the same. At least Olivia has dialogue we haven't seen before, even if she seems in no hurry to acknowledge the fact she fought alongside Tapu Lele to push back a UB02.

Now then... this kid on Royal Avenue. I knew the trigger for when this kid did something mechanical, and he didn't do anything when I first talked to him. It turns out, however, he's a shade more involved than I had been informed.

It turns out that there are five stories you can tell him. Let me tell you, knowing what his final trigger is makes this first one (which I could've got if I had talked to him one plot trigger after when he becomes available) fall flat on its face.

Just the one, mind. Although my team's getting to the point where I'm getting level parity with the Battle Royal Dome...

And, from the sounds of it, it involves getting triple-teamed a lot. I kinda want to give it a try, but I'm not sure what I'm going to need to bring to bring my A game. I know for a fact, though, that I'll want a few postgame resources to back me up.

Unfortunately, I only discovered this after I started posting when it might be relevant. Although it'd probably be a bit awkward to backtrack to him after every event. Still, this is awkward in its own way...

As another layer of annoyance, you have to reload the room every time you want to tell him a new story.

So then, what other triggers do we have...?

Yes. Kiawe's Trial. Now granted, this is USUM, that Marowak does take courage to fight, but most people were more scared of Mallow's.

Although from an outsider's perspective, Kiawe and Wela Volcano Park are definitely the more intimidating opponents. And locations.

Ridley only gets better from there, kid. But, uh... maybe don't read her Pokedex entries.

The third tale is when they start getting into the really fantastic- what we're talking about is our original encounter with UB-01, after Akala Island. Although the second visit took courage too.

Well, at the time. We're now better informed on the subject, although I still say it's a bit brave to call it a Pokemon.

It was more scared of me than we were of it, I think. Lusamine was definitely the opposite of scared.

...There was Hau, who was scared of it too, Lusamine, who I do not trust to have been near it, and Wicke, who I have never seen with a Pokemon. I'm not even 100% sure of that claim.

Considering where Pokemon goes as a series after this, I kinda feel like "even though there were adults to handle it" was genuinely intended, and we weren't supposed to have considered it our job to handle things.

Following this...

...Po Town? Yeah, the whole "come alone" angle and the Yungoos definitely rendered it on the intimidating end, but once we got there, it was more... sad than terrifying. I'd have reserved "terrifying" for the Aether Paradise invasion right afterwards.

I have no idea where that comes from, but it makes the most sense for where Team Skull's going to expand its ranks from. No, I imagine most of Team Skull's ranks actively decided to join. Which is more depressing than the alternative.

It was a distraction for me so they could kidnap my friend. I'm not super happy with it in hindsight. Although I definitely showed Team Skull better than to engage with me on a whim.

Now then... one more story to go, and the one I knew was coming.

Or so I thought.

The mechanical reward for this sidequest is listed as "after defeating Ultra Necrozma", but the phrasing on this story and the kid's response implies all I needed to do was play Ultra Warp Ride once- the same clear condition for unlocking Circle Pad.

"Oh hey, I rode the beast that devours the sun into a world infested with creatures beyond description to battle a monster that steals light as we know it" is a fairly huge tale, and while I appreciate building up to it slowly, I don't think Po Town was an adequate fourth step. Should have been the Aether invasion.

I had a pretty good idea. There were people on the other side. Not exactly people like us, but close enough that I think it probably counted.

And for the sake of my friend, too. Although the whole "good for Alola" thing was certainly nice in retrospect.

That last tale seemed to be the impetus for a change in heart for the kid.

Good for you. What takes your fancy, then, kiddo?

...Well then. Can't say that's entirely surprising, but every step is as important as the last.

This Lycanroc is only different from a standard trainer Lycanroc by having 30 flat IVs. No EVs, Nature, or set moves. While it is unique from Olivia's Lycanroc in using Day form, there's another Trainer later that has one in both games.

Surprisingly, higher levelled than Chip, but easily dispatched.

That's always a funny comment to get after a first-turn OHKO. Bravely plunging into battle and then promptly getting smacked in the face by Aqua Tail is certainly one way to prove newfound courage.

Now, this is the main reason to come back to Youngster Kenway- amazingly, this is something Ailey actually needed, too.

This is the freebie Dawn Stone. Far too late if you want to use Froslass (or, since it is available by Island Scan, Gallade) on your team, but Ailey didn't wind up getting a Dawn Stone while I was digging for stones, so she still needs to get a Froslass for her Dex.

SM's freebie Dawn Stone is postgame. At least they don't even have the option of using Gallade...

I'd... probably start at the bottom. Although... don't do the Battle Royal Dome. That's... that's not balanced to start your journey with.

On another note, this one completely escaped my notice, but there's something else to pick up while we're here on Royal Avenue.

We could've solved this quest chain sooner than we could've solved Youngster Kenway, but even then we're still talking post-Mimikyu here.

I never really understood undefeated battlers having the most popular matches. Then again, I never really understood being in the crowd in these sorts of sporting events anyway, so perhaps that's a me problem.

Machamp is an interesting choice in matchup. While, aesthetically, Machamp belongs in the wrestler's wring like Incineroar, Machamp itself has a positive matchup on Incineroar due to its Fighting type, its Guts Ability (to ignore Burns) and its solid bulk denying Incineroar a clean oneshot.

This is an interesting choice in counter, though. Acrobatics is a powerful move that could probably give Incineroar the edge, but it will deny it a held item slot- or force it to use a consumable, that it would need to spend time consuming. In the Battle Royal Dome, I'm not sure it has that kind of time.

If you happen to own a copy of the Acrobatics TM (which is found outside the Mantine Surf Association building on Route 15), you can loan him the TM for exactly as long as Tigrudo needs to learn Acrobatics.

Glad to be of service.

The reward for helping Tigrudo is a free Power Belt. All six Power Items were, of course, available from the Battle Royal Dome for 16 BP each, but they're all available for free in USUM. This is the only one available before the postgame, and since it increases Defence, it's probably the worst one. Most teams prefer to raise their Atk/Sp. Atk and Spd/HP, with investment in the defence stats reserved for teams that know exactly what opponents they intend to block with such investments.

As it turns out, there is an Incineroar set in the Battle Royal Dome rotation that runs Acrobatics. That Incineroar carries a Firium Z, though, which is not "consumed" once the Z-Move has been fired. I wonder if the devs remembered Z-Crystal consumption doesn't work that way when designing that kit- running the calcs, Flare Blitz does more damage to Machamp than Acrobatics does if Acrobatics is forced to use its inferior hold item BP.

To make matters worse, one of the Machamp is running Choice Scarf Knock Off. Were Incineroar holding any other nonconsumable item, that would be a hilarious counter.

What do you mean I didn't grab this the first time I was here? I only noticed once the conversation started, and it was bothering me the whole time.

After reloading the map after helping Tigrudo, you can find his rival Machamp in the same position.

And, from the sounds of things, literally.

That's what they all say. They say it about me, too.

Frankly, you should count yourself lucky that facility Trainers don't run HA. Intimidate Incineroar would be a lot scarier.

I also notice neither you nor him refer to your opposing number by their wrestling name.

While there is an Acrobatics-carrying Incineroar in the Battle Royal Dome, there is not a Coba Berry holding Machamp. There are only two sets per Pokemon, and Machamp's sets carry Expert Belt and Choice Scarf.

The way the Battle Royal Dome works, there's actually only one possible Black Belt you can fight, and that Black Belt can't carry Incineroar. He can carry Machamp, though, but he only uses the Choice Scarf one.

Unlike with the Acrobatics TM, you must give up a Coba Berry for this guy. The Battle Royal Dome does resupply used items, so he won't need any more, but do try not to give him your only one. Fortunately, I've been growing enough that I have around a hundred of the things.

Watch out for that Flare Blitz.

We can't acquire Coba Berries until Poni Wilds at the earliest- USUM adds Coba Berries as drops from Medicham in the Ultra Space Wilds, but that's later than Poni Wilds. But still, Ailey at last gets her hands on the Bulk Up TM for herself. I'm not sure she's carrying anything calling out for it- if anything, it'd be Robin, I assume.

Ray'll see if he can't get any benefit out of it for Isabella, though.

I do like those walk-offs, though. There's something charming about the pomp they carry themselves with.

The last substantial visit to make today is to Nanu. He doesn't have an item to give us, but he does have a charming scene here. I'm not sure when it unlocks, but I'm going to assume we do need to have cleared Mina's Trial, so he's not in two places at once there. Then again, it might unlock right after his Grand Trial- we were a little busy at that point in the story.

If you might recall, giving us the starter was the job of our local Kahuna, Hala. Which implies the other kahunas might be asked to do the same job.

Which means Nanu is expected to do it.

Now, one thing that kinda gets lost, because of the series tradition of giving us a trio of relatively identical Grass/Fire/Water sets, this is a tradition out-of-universe only. Many Trainers don't even bother with getting their starter from the Professor/Kahuna/Director/whoever, instead getting a Pokemon from a close relative.

If I were in Bethany's shoes, I'd probably be the one to hook Lillie up with a starter Clefairy/whatever she wants as her starter.

Nanu has decided to take this job to its logical conclusion, and is showing off three particular Meowths. I don't think their personalities are supposed to map onto the IV-demonstrating characteristics- there's no "easygoing and laid-back" one, although "likes to relax" is close enough for me.

"A little quick tempered". Means its Atk IV is highest, so it'd probably be the best one? Not that this accounts for Nature, though.

This one's the one that doesn't really strike me as having a personality based on a Characteristic. Sounds more like a personality based on the Gentle Nature.

Starting the kid with a Meowth seems like a way to start his quest, but giving him options would require doing work, and that is more than Nanu really wants to do to complete his job. Besides, finding something else is what the kid's supposed to be learning.

Good question. I think narrative might be a better driver than stats here.

I was just doing a social call. Nice to see you doing said duties, though.

Well, at least the problem is diagnosed as "they're all encouraging". Could be worse- could be uninterested in them all.

I do like how the game refuses to dignify Nanu with the assertion that these Meowths have any distinctions to them. Although yes, the game is nice enough to have this list in the same order the Meowths were introduced.

From what I've heard, some languages, including at least French, make Nanu's descriptions sound like he's really stretching for descriptives that make these three Meowth distinct.

You can actually check which Meowth you're about to suggest.

I think the best one for an early Trainer is one where the Trainer is the one deciding how motivated to be. Pokemon that are too fiery push Trainers faster than they can learn, which only exhausts them faster.

Just doing my part, kid. We were all once like you, once.

Yeah, you get the idea, don't you, Nanu? It'll be up to him to learn that lesson, though, he won't necessarily come to that conclusion on his own.

If he's even still in earshot.

"He had to be born in Malie City, just to annoy me..."

Knowing Nanu, I wouldn't even be surprised.

Now that is a man who has mastered the art of doing the bare minimum. I'd begrudge him, but he doesn't seem to have hampered that kid much. Other than the obvious "now he is using a Meowth."

You've got a bit of a bone on your shoulder? Or you just prefer the quiet? I think it's a bit of both myself. Why Tapu Bulu chose you is beyond me- or perhaps he finds you a bird of a feather.

Ray picked a different Meowth for the kid. Doesn't seem to change anything at all.

And Hapu's comment, once you've fought her. Turns out the whole "rural kids have different habits from their urban peers" translates to the world of Pokemon. Not that we bump into many of them to compare.

Next time: Ray needs to do his final Trials, too.